Knar School
Knar school is about an hour away from Siem Reap but could almost be on a different continent. It is in a very poor area with all the complex problems that affect so much of Cambodia. When the foundation became involved with the school about 2 years ago there were just two tumbling down wooden classrooms, that are still in use, and about 60 kids. Now, there are 260 children and Plan International have built a concrete block of four classrooms to accommodate this increase This is a a village where children are hungry. The World Food Bank provides supplies for breakfast for the children. Rice, tinned fish and cooking oil. This is supplemented by vegetables that the children grow in the school garden. The cans of fish are meant to be enough for 4 children a day but here they have to stretch to 27. But, it is better than nothing and it makes a big difference to the health of the children. Because of the split day system here the kid's rotate between morning and afternoon school every month so that they all get a chance to benefit from the food.
The village has no clean water supply and the children have been drinking contaminated water with all the problems that brings. The foundation has put a new well in school with a water treatment system which we are encouraging the children to use. The old well was next to the latrines which just work on a soakaway system. Nothing is straightforward here though and getting them not to put their mouths around the taps is a problem. None of the homes here have soap and the kids are filthy. Ponheary has got all the hotels in town to give us the soap that would normally be thrown away to take out there. The next project is to install showers so that the children can bathe, a facility unavailable at home.
We spent lots of time attending to their medical needs. Everyday the kids line up to get all their ailments treated. We do what we can. The biggest problem is with infected foot and leg wounds. Many kids have no shoes, even those that do have flip flops run barefoot through the paddy fields, small cuts are never cleaned, they become infected and so it goes on. Just for the want of some soap and water the kids can become really sick. We have to show them how to get clean, they just don't know. We treat all sorts of problems as best we can but it can seem overwhelming. Often there are 25 or more kids waiting to see us. Anything really bad we have to try to get them into town to the children's hospital but, from my experience of it, we can do just as well most of the time.
The school is a happy place. I love Knar, despite all the problems. The teaching is especially rewarding here. The village is beset with the usual problems of domestic abuse, alcoholism, hunger, futility despair but the kids love coming to school and work really hard. Terrible things happen. There is a beautiful little girl in my class, she looks Thai. To be born pretty into a poor family here is not a good thing. Just before I came she came to school and was in a state. One thing was that she couldn't sit down. Ponheary managed to get the story that she had been raped by a neighbour. When the Mother was confronted about it she new what had happened but refused to do anything about it. She said that she was a single mother and that the man gave here rice. At home, there would be a process in place for us to deal with it, here, there is nothing that we can do without the cooperation of the mother. The little girl is so dignified and beautiful and so keen in lessons that I can hardly bear it but, am impotent to do anything.
I will write more about Knar, there is plenty to tell you.
The village has no clean water supply and the children have been drinking contaminated water with all the problems that brings. The foundation has put a new well in school with a water treatment system which we are encouraging the children to use. The old well was next to the latrines which just work on a soakaway system. Nothing is straightforward here though and getting them not to put their mouths around the taps is a problem. None of the homes here have soap and the kids are filthy. Ponheary has got all the hotels in town to give us the soap that would normally be thrown away to take out there. The next project is to install showers so that the children can bathe, a facility unavailable at home.
We spent lots of time attending to their medical needs. Everyday the kids line up to get all their ailments treated. We do what we can. The biggest problem is with infected foot and leg wounds. Many kids have no shoes, even those that do have flip flops run barefoot through the paddy fields, small cuts are never cleaned, they become infected and so it goes on. Just for the want of some soap and water the kids can become really sick. We have to show them how to get clean, they just don't know. We treat all sorts of problems as best we can but it can seem overwhelming. Often there are 25 or more kids waiting to see us. Anything really bad we have to try to get them into town to the children's hospital but, from my experience of it, we can do just as well most of the time.
The school is a happy place. I love Knar, despite all the problems. The teaching is especially rewarding here. The village is beset with the usual problems of domestic abuse, alcoholism, hunger, futility despair but the kids love coming to school and work really hard. Terrible things happen. There is a beautiful little girl in my class, she looks Thai. To be born pretty into a poor family here is not a good thing. Just before I came she came to school and was in a state. One thing was that she couldn't sit down. Ponheary managed to get the story that she had been raped by a neighbour. When the Mother was confronted about it she new what had happened but refused to do anything about it. She said that she was a single mother and that the man gave here rice. At home, there would be a process in place for us to deal with it, here, there is nothing that we can do without the cooperation of the mother. The little girl is so dignified and beautiful and so keen in lessons that I can hardly bear it but, am impotent to do anything.
I will write more about Knar, there is plenty to tell you.
Comments
Post a Comment